The Inevitability Fallacy
by Illeana Starbright
Summary: The journal Dipper found in the woods wasn't alone. Years ago a creature was bound to protect it by the author, and she's about to be dragged along on a ride while the Pines twins discover the mysteries of Gravity Falls.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note:_ So, in honor of the new Gravity Falls episode tonight, I'm going to start posting my Gravity Falls fanfic. Credit for introducing me to the show and helping beta read this so that the plot bunnies didn't complete take over and destroy grammar and sense goes to _snowcloud8._ I own nothing you recognize from Gravity Falls.

* * *

 _Contrary to popular belief, this mess did not begin with Stanford Pines. He might have been the one to open the portal, but we demons had our own machinations in place long before he discovered how to open a portal to another realm. Still, without Stanford Pines creating the portal, it would have taken us much longer to escape. But I'm getting ahead of myself._

 _I cannot tell you my name, for it was lost long ago when the great library of Alexandria was burned to the ground. The last records of my existence were wiped away by the flames, erasing the chance of anyone accidentally summoning me from the other side. That was fine by me. I was a very new demon at the time and avoiding being called to the human realm where my meager power supply waned. Over the centuries I lurked on the other side, growing my power and learning what I could._

 _Demons are not particularly good teachers, but they do have certain rules that govern them, many of which have to do with their offspring. Demons do not, in any way, reproduce. Instead, to grow both their power and their ranks, they must create new demons but, in doing so, they gain certain obligations. One of which is to instruct the new demon on how to utilize their newfound powers. I did not blossom under the rough instruction I received, but I did learn. My power grew, slowly and awkwardly, until it reached a point where I felt I would be able to linger in the human realm for an extended amount of time without being weakened almost to the point of being erased from existence._

 _It was then that I began to plot my escape. By this point, the demon that had created me had seduced another to join the host of those bound to him, and was focused on training up the newcomer. That was around the time Stanford Pines opened the portal for the first time, with the help of a friend. I saw my chance and seized it, escaping in the body of a human. Once outside of the demon realm I could have slipped free from the confines of flesh and taken my own form but instead I chose to lurk. After all, I hadn't been in the human realm in centuries._

 _Stanford Pines eventually realized what was happening to his friend and, using knowledge he had gained while studying the oddities of Gravity Falls, drove me out. I expected to be returned to the demon realm, locked away again for centuries, but he had other plans. Somehow he managed to assign a name to who I was, as true a name as I had anymore, and bound me to the last of his journals. He then charge me with their protection and, for years, I lingered on earth near its hiding place, until a twelve year old boy named Dipper Pines stumbled upon its hiding spot. That's when things finally started to get interesting._

* * *

Dipper Pines stumbled through the woods, several signs for the Mystery Shack tucked under an arm. Trees groaned ominously in the wind, fog shifting like water around him. "Ugh, Grunkle Stan," the twelve year old muttered under his breath, approaching a large tree trunk and dumping the signs to the ground. "Nobody ever believes anything I say." He grabbed a sign, positioning it so the arrow was pointing the direction he'd come from, and began to nail it to the tree. He smacked the hammer on the nail and then paused as if made a strange, metallic sound.

Dipper dropped the sign and tapped the tree trunk with the hammer directly several times, more metallic sounds issuing from it. Frowning, he dropped the hammer as well and began wiping dust from the tree trunk, revealing a small door built into the trunk of the tree. Dipper cautiously opened the door to reveal some kind of mechanical control box with two switches on it. The first one, when he flipped, did nothing, but the second one did something that made Gompers, Grunkle Stan's goat, bleat and flee deeper into the forest. Dipper spun around at the noise and his eyes widened at the hole which had opened up in the ground.

"What the?" he mumbled, stepping cautiously towards the hole and crouching next to it. There was a book inside, covered in a layer of dirt and dust. Dipper lifted it out and glanced around, wary of watching eyes. Every time he set foot in this forest he felt like someone was watching him and the last thing he wanted was for someone, or something, to spy on his discovery.

Satisfied that no one was around, Dipper blew the leaves, dust, cobwebs, and dirt from the cover of the book to reveal a six fingered golden hand print with a black number three in the middle of the book. He opened to the first page, leaned a little closer, and began to read aloud. "It's hard to believe its been six years since since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon." Dipper mouthed the words strange and wondrous, trying to fit creepy old Gravity Falls where he was trapped for the summer into those words. Curious, he quickly skimmed through the pages, taking in the mythical creatures sketched in and surrounded by words. "What is all this?" he asked in a low voice, pausing on a page towards the end that said, TRUST NO ONE.

"Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed," he read. "I'm being watched..." He trailed off, hearing a second voice reading the words with him, but when he looked around there was no one there. After a moment he turned back towards the book and continued reading. "I must hide this book before he finds it." He stopped reading, again hearing another voice, but this time instead of silence, the feminine voice continued as his head whipped around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Remember," it said, as if reading directly from the book. "In Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust." There was a pause, followed by a dark, rich laugh, and then silence.

Dipper shivered and closed the book, only to almost fly into the sky when his twin sister, Mabel, yelled, "HALLO!"

"Ah," he yelped, almost throwing the book in a panic.

"Whatcha reading?" Mabel asked, jumping over a fallen tree trunk. "Some nerd thing?"

"Uh, it's nothing," he stuttered in response and heard that ghostly laughter again as he quickly tucked the book behind his back.

"Uh, it's nothing," Mabel repeated, imitating him and then giggling. "What? Are you actually not gonna show me?"

Dipper deliberated, remembering the book's warning. While he thought, and Mabel waited, Gompers made a return and began nibbling on the edge of the book. Panicked at the thought of losing this new source of knowledge that confirmed his suspicions about the town and surrounding area, he jerked it away from the goat, revealing it's existence to his twin. Mabel turned expectant puppy dog eyes on him at the sight of the book and Dipper sighed, turning his head to glare at the goat before turning back to Mabel and saying, "Let's go somewhere private."

"Okay," Mabel agreed cheerfully, slipping her arm through his and practically dragging him back towards the Mystery Shack, the two of them abandoning the signs on the ground. Neither one was aware of the wine red eyes watching them or the slim shadow following them from between the trees.

Despite Dipper's numerous glances backwards, he didn't catch a glimpse of his new shadow, nor did he hear the murmur of, "Well that's interesting" when he and Mabel broke free of the trees to hurry towards the front door of the Mystery Shack.


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper and Mabel stretched out on the living room floor of the Mystery Shack, the book lying open in between them. "It's amazing," Dipper gushed, struggling to keep his voice low as he showed his twin what he'd discovered. "Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side."

"Whoa," Mabel breathed, eyes sparkling. "Shut. Up." She pushed his shoulder and he grinned at her, glad that she was sharing his enthusiasm.

"And get this," he continued. "After a certain point, the pages just stop. Like the guy who was writing it mysteriously disappeared." The doorbell rang and Dipper flinched, startled. "Who's that?"

"Well, time to spill the beans," Mabel said, jumping to her feet and knocking over a can of beans that had been perched precariously on a table. "Whoops, beans!" Not at all bothered by the mess, his twin's brilliant smile widened as she proclaimed, "This girl's got a date! Woot, woot!"

"Let me get this straight," Dipper replied incredulously. "In the half hour I was gone, you already found a boyfriend." He'd been extremely aware of the humiliating fact that Mabel had been flirting with pretty much any boy she'd encountered this summer but he hadn't thought her attempts would actually work. At least not in such a short amount of time.

"What can I say?" was Mabel's chipper response. "I guess I'm just irresistible!" The doorbell rang twice more, making Mabel whirl around like a hyper puppy. "Oh, coming!" She darted out of the room and Dipper stared after her for a moment before rising and sinking down into what was normally Grunkle Stan's armchair, the book open in his lap.

He was just getting to the point of being absorbed into what the book was saying when someone tugged on it. His head snapped up as he pulled back, hugging the book tightly to his chest. There was no one in the room with him, but Dipper was sure he hadn't imagined the feeling of someone trying to pull the book away. That meant that book had been right. Someone was watching Dipper, someone that wanted the book. "What'cha reading there, slick?"

Grunkle Stan's voice drew Dipper's attention away from his suspicions as he scrambled to shove the book under the cushion he was sitting on and grab a magazine from the table. He thought he heard an irritated sigh at his actions but he ignored it in his rush to look like he was actually reading whatever magazine he'd picked up. "I was just catching up on, uh..." He paused his babble, frantically glancing at the cover of the magazine and then barely resisting the urge to wrinkle his nose at what he saw. At least it wasn't one of Mabel's teen girl magazine's with the personality quizzes inside but still, "Gold Chains for Old Men magazine?"

"That's a good issue," was Stan's unbothered reply and Dipper breathed out a sigh of relief.

An amused snicker echoed in his ear, making him jump just as Mabel bounded in dragging a boy in a sweatshirt with her. "Hey family, say hello to my new boyfriend!'

"Sup?" the guy inquired

"Hey..." Dipper replied awkwardly.

"How's it hanging?" Stan added, making Dipper want to bang his head on the arm of the chair. Grunkle Stan had to be getting close to a hundred years old, so why did he insist on talking like he was Dipper and Mabel's age?

"We met at the cemetery," Mabel continued, oblivious to how creepy that sounded. "He's really deep." She squeezed his arm and looked startled, adding, "Oh, little muscle there. That's...what a surprise!"

"So what's your name?" Dipper asked in an effort to be nice. The guy might have been a little creepy, but Mabel was happy and that was important.

"Uh, Normal...man!" came the reply.

Mabel giggled awkwardly at that and said quickly, "He means Norman."

Okay, this whole situation was getting stranger by the second. Dipper's fingers itched to open the book and figure out what exactly was wrong with Norman. "Are you bleeding Norman?" Dipper inquired, watching a trail of red slide from Norman's eye. It was sickening, but Dipper couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene.

"It's jam," was Norman's quick reply.

"I love jam," Mabel squealed before giggle. "Look. At. This." She made each word its own sentence as she looked at Dipper as if daring him to ruin this for her. He couldn't. At least not until he had proof that Norman wasn't human.

"So, you wanna go hold hands or...whatever?" Norman suggested awkwardly, probably sensing the very tangible tension between the Pines twins.

"Oh, oh my goodness," Mabel gushed. "Don't wait up," she called to her family and then practically dragged Norman out of the Mystery Shack, leaving Stan and Dipper staring after her. After a minute Stan shrugged and shuffled out of the living room, probably heading out to swindle more customers. That was when Dipper pulled out the book. There was definitely something suspicious about Norman, and Dipper was pretty sure the book had the answers he was looking for.

He'd just opened it up when the feminine voice who'd finished the quotation Dipper had been reading out of the book in the forest said, "Finally! I thought you'd never be alone."

Dipper's head snapped around to take in the figure sitting perched on the edge of the TV. She looked to be about Wendy's age with high cheekbones and almond shaped wine red eyes. Her hair was dark as a raven's wing and hanging in twisted braids against her pale skin. Pale pink lips pulled back in a smirk at the boy's surprise, revealing jagged, shark like teeth. "W-who are you?" he stuttered and her grin widened. "What are you?"

"Good questions kiddo," came the blithe response. "But you're not gonna get any answers. Let me tell you what you're going to do. You're going to hand over that book and then you're going to forget that any of this ever happened."

"I'm not giving you the book," Dipper protested, clutching the book tightly to his chest.

"Well, I did try to do this the easy way," she said, tapping sharp black nails on the edge of the ancient television set. "Too bad I guess." Then she slid off the set to tower over him. "One last chance kiddo. Hand over the book and I won't have to erase you from existence." Dipper shook his head and pressed himself further back into the chair, clinging to the book. If he lost the book there was no way he was going to be able to save his sister from whatever monster she had following her around.

The creature in front of him paused for a moment, as if waiting for an answer, and then sighed. "So that's how its gonna be, huh? Too bad." Dipper flinched in anticipation of coming pain when those razor sharp nails sliced through the air towards him and felt...nothing. Instead he heard a startled sounding yelp and his eyes opened just a crack. The menacing figure that had been looming over him had retreated to the far wall, blood dripping from her throat, the exact same spot her nails had been aiming for on him. "You're a Pines, aren't you?" she rasped, spitting out a mouthful of too dark blood out on the floor where it sizzled and hissed, burning a small divot in the floor.

"Why does that matter?" Dipper demanded, not moving from his spot in the chair.

"Just answer the question," the creature snapped, straightening up as the wounds under the blood slowly began to stitch themselves together.

"Y-yeah," Dipper stuttered out, eyes going wide again as the creature groaned.

"Of course. The first person to find that journal in years and you're a Pines. Just my luck."

"What are you talking about?" Dipper asked, fear fading away to be replaced with curiosity.

He got a petulant scowl in response, the creature folding her arms across her chest. The white, almost translucent skin seemed to glow against the darkness of her clothing. "The writer had a certain...fondness for the Pine family," she said sourly, spitting out another gob of blood. "That any harm you, against them do, will be given back twice as much to you," she added, as if reciting some sort of poem. "That kind of crap. Anyhow, it means you and I have to settle on a little arrangement."

"What kind of arrangement?" Dipper questioned warily, relaxing some in the chair but still clutching the book to his chest.

"I can't make you give up the book, not if you're a Pines, but I'm not here to babysit you," she told him, eyes narrowing. "I'm here to keep track of the book and keep it safe, nothing more. Any mess you get into, you get out of yourself, understand?" She waited for Dipper's stunned nod before vanishing, leaving behind smoke that gradually faded away, taking the scent of black licorice with it.


	3. Chapter 3

The creature gone, Dipper found himself staring blankly at the place where she'd occupied. His stomach was all tied up in knots from the encounter and his fingers trembled a little as he clung to the book, retreating to the attic to plan his next move. "Mabel first," he muttered, flipping rapidly through the pages. He needed to deal with Mabel's problem first. Then he could figure out what he was going to do about whatever entity was attached to the book.

It didn't take long for Dipper to find what he was searching for. "Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for teenagers," Dipper read. "Beware Gravity Falls's nefarious..." His voice trailed off as he mouthed the next word, eyes widening as he took in the picture that looked eerily like Norman. "ZOMBIE!" Abandoning the book on the bed in his haste to save his sister, Dipper sprinted down the steps and out of the Mystery Shack.

He spent the afternoon following Soos's advice, recording Mabel with Norman in an attempt to prove that the guy was a member of the undead rather than just some weird guy who'd decided to date Dipper's sister. It was only when he returned to the Mystery Shack just ahead of Mabel, hoping his twin wouldn't realize that he'd been following her all day, that he realized he'd left the book alone with the creature that wanted it for herself. What if she'd taken it? Then he'd never be able to find out how to protect Mabel from the zombie.

Dipper ran past Grunkle Stan without responding to whatever the man had said to him, racing up the stairs towards the attic. He flung open the door to the room he and Mabel were sharing, expecting to see the book was gone. Instead, it was still sitting, closed, on top of his bed. Settled next to it, scowling, was the creature. For a moment Dipper could only stand in the doorway, stunned. "It's still here," he breathed, words escaping him in a rush. "Why is it still here?" Then his directed his gaze towards the creature. "Why are you still here?"

"Apparently I'm not allowed to touch the book anymore," the creature drawled, lifting up a hand to reveal brilliant red skin. "Otherwise I'd be long gone."

Dipper absorbed that for a moment and then said cautiously, "So this means you won't be leaving any time soon, right?"

"Unfortunately, no," came the sour reply.

"Um, okay," Dipper said, cautiously inching his way into the room. When the creature didn't so much as twitch, he reached out a hand towards the book. He had just flipped it open, intending to find the page on zombies again, when an idea slipped into his head. "Hey, uh, you," he said awkwardly, shuffling his feet a little.

"You talking to me, kiddo?" came the response.

"Yeah," Dipper replied. "Um, do you known anything about zombies?"

"Zombies? Oh sure," the creature replied dismissively.

There was an awkward pause while Dipper waited for her to continue but instead she turned to stare at the ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the universe. "Can you, uh, tell me about them?"

"I could, but I don't feel like it," she said, a cold smile.

Dipper wanted to protest, but something about that shark like smile made him hesitate. Logically he knew she couldn't hurt him because he was a member of the Pines family, but logic took a backseat to fear without a fight. Instead of demanded answers, he grabbed the book and hurried out of the room, hoping to find a place where he could pour over its contents in peace. Downstairs, Mabel was chatting a mile a minute to Grunkle Stan, telling him all about her date with Norman. The shopfront of the Mystery Shack was empty, Wendy and Soos having already closed up and left for the night, but Mabel's voice was loud enough that it carried into the store. Dipper pushed the front door open and scrambled outside, hoping for some peace and quiet.

The yard in front of the Mystery Shack was empty and quiet. Dipper let out a sigh of relief and was just settling down to read when he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun around, a startled sound escaping from his mouth, and took in the sight of the creature sitting on the railing of the Mystery Shack's porch. "You!" he squeaked out. "How did you get out here without Grunkle Stan or Mabel noticing? You would have had to walk right past them!"

"They can't see me, kiddo," came the amused response.

"Then how come I can?"

"Because you're the super special one who decided to pick up a hidden book you found in a creepy old forest."

"Does that mean I'm stuck with you?" he blurted out and she snorted.

"No kiddo, it means that I'm stuck with you." Dipper scowled at the correction, not seeing the difference between what she'd said and what he had. He also wasn't exactly happy with her calling him kiddo all the time. He was twelve, practically a teenager. It was humiliating and degrading to have someone, even some kind of monstrous creature like she was, treating him like he was a toddler.

He meant to say something smart in response, like pointing out that she'd said the exact same thing he had, just in a different way, but what came out of his mouth was, "Stop calling me that!"

"Calling you what?" she inquired, eyes gleaming. "Kiddo?"

"Yes," Dipper snapped. "I'm twelve, not a little kid."

"Okay," she said after a moment of thought. "Let's make a deal. I'll stop calling you kiddo, and you'll put the book back where it belongs."

"No way," Dipper protested. "I'm not putting this back. It's the only information I have about zombies, and Mabel's in danger from one."

"Oh please kid," the creature replied, rolling those eerie, wine red eyes. "Your sister's not in any danger at all from zombies. At least not right now."

"You don't know that," Dipper snapped. "You haven't even met him." The creature smirked at that and Dipper scowled at her. "Norman's a zombie, and I'm going to prove it." That said, Dipper turned pointedly back towards the book, determined to re-read everything it had to say about zombies. Maybe there was something inside that would help him discover what exactly he was looking for so he could prove to Mabel that she was in danger. After all, the last thing he wanted to see was Mabel being eaten by a member of the undead.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note:_ Sorry for not updating yesterday! I had this chapter already written but I completely forgot that Monday was the day I promised to update this story on! Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait.

* * *

Dipper spent the next couple days stalking Mabel and Norman with a video camera, hoping to prove that his twin sister's boyfriend was a zombie. He recorded hours upon hours of video, and tried not to think about the fact that Mabel was going to be majorly annoyed with him once the shock wore off. He'd gathered his evidence between the recordings and his nightly research, which was done after Mabel had fallen asleep while whatever creature guarded the book watched his every move. He'd intended to do research on what exactly was bound to the book but the Norman situation had put that research on hold. It had been an exhausting few days, with Dipper falling asleep hunched over the book, but the sooner he convinced Mabel that she was in danger from Norman, the sooner he could focus on his own problem; what exactly the creature attached to the book was and how he could get rid of her. That night he once more fell asleep with the book in his lap, as he double checked the pages on zombies again to make sure he knew everything he needed to know when he presented the evidence to Mabel the next day. From across the room, just before he drifted off, he thought he saw the creature shake her head at him in pure exasperation.

The next afternoon, after lunch and work at the Mystery Shack but before inevitable the arrival of Norman, Dipper managed to catch Mabel in their room brushing her hair. "Mabel, we've gotta talk about Norman," he started, video camera in one hand and the book tucked under his arm.

"Isn't he the best?" Mabel gushed, grinned at him. "Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me." She turned her head to reveal a giant red mark on her cheek and Dipper let out a cry of alarm, making her giggle. "Gullible! It was just an accident with a leaf blower." She paused, a dreamy look in her eyes as she recalled the incident, and then added, "That was fun."

"No Mabel, listen," Dipper protested. "I'm trying to tell you that Norman is not what he seems."

"You think he's a vampire?" Mabel theorized with an excited gasp as Dipper dumped the camera on his bed and pulled out the book. "That would be so awesome!"

"Guess again, sister," Dipper replied. "SHA-BAM!" He flipped open the book and Mabel let out a disgusted noise. Dipper looked down and then yelped when he saw it had opened to a page on gnomes. Laughter echoed near his ear as he stammered, "Oh wait, I'm-I'm sorry!" He quickly flipped to the pages on the undead, adding "Sha-bam," in a much less enthusiastic voice.

"A zombie?" was Mabel's reaction. "That's not funny, Dipper."

"I'm not joking," he retorted. "It all adds up; the bleeding, the limp. He never blinks! Have you noticed that?"

"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking."

"Mabel, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls? Trust no one!"

"Well what about me, huh?" Mabel demanded. "Why can't you trust me?" Then she ruined the seriousness of the moment by saying, "Beep, bop!" as she slipped on her star earrings.

"Mabel," Dipper said, lunging forward and shaking her. "He's gonna eat your brain!"

"Dipper, listen to me," Mabel insisted, pushing him away from her. "Norman and I are going on a date at five o'clock, and I'm gonna be adorable, and he's gonna be dreamy." Then she began shoving Dipper out of their bedroom as he stammered at her, trying to convince her to see reason. "And I'm not gonna let you ruin it with one of your crazy conspiracies!" Then she shoved the journal into his arms and slammed the door in his face.

"What am I gonna do?" Dipper asked, sinking down to sit on the floor outside their shared bedroom.

"Worry your silly little head over Norman being a zombie when he really isn't?" came the dry suggestion from the staircase.

Dipper turned and scowled at the creature, who was perched on the railing, smirking at him. "What do you know?"

"Plenty of things," came the smug reply. "Not that I'm going to tell you any of them, kiddo. Besides, you wouldn't listen to me even if I did."

"Norman's a zombie and I'm going to prove it," Dipper snapped at the creature just as Mabel swung open the door and flounced by him.

"Were you talking to me bro-bro?" she called as she rushed down the stairs. "Cause I wasn't listening." Dipper just groaned in exasperation and stormed into their room, slamming the door pointedly behind him.

"Closed doors won't keep me out," the creature informed him cheekily, swooping through the door like it didn't even exist. "You know that, right?" The nasty little smirk she added at the end only made Dipper more irritated and he tossed the closest object to him, one of his pillows, at her. She caught it casually, fingernails cutting into it, and tossed it back, sending a spray of feathers across the floor.

"What does keep you out?" Dipper demanded but she just flashed that shark toothed grin at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Yes," Dipper ground out, forcefully turning his attention back to the book. "I would." The creature snickered and a moment later Dipper felt the bed shift as she settled down next to him. That was new. He'd noted that, previously, she'd had no substance, sitting on furniture without leaving so much as a dip in it. That she was choosing to have more of a physical presence now, in the middle of this mess was worrisome. "What do you want?" Dipper asked, scooting away from her.

"Don't be like that, kiddo," she replied, stretching out on the bed so he was trapped on one side by the wall. "You're the best entertainment I've had in years."

"S-stay away from me," Dipper stuttered, scooting closer to the wall, and she rolled her eyes.

"Did you forget the part where I can't hurt you?" she jabbed, sitting up and stretching.

"Why should I believe you're telling the truth?" Dipper retorted, relaxing a little as she settled on the edge of the bed. She just grinned sharply in response as the doorbell rang downstairs and they both heard Mabel cheerfully greeting Norman. "What am I gonna do?" Dipper moaned as he heard the door close behind Mabel and her undead boyfriend, flopping back on the bed. His hand fell on the video camera and sudden realization struck him. He hadn't shown Mabel the recordings. Surely there was something he'd recorded that would prove Norman was a zombie.

As he watched the tape, he began to give up hope. Despite Norman's clumsiness, there was no sign that he was a member of the undead. "Soos was right," the boy muttered, thinking back to the conversation he'd had with Grunkle Stan's handyman, who'd insisted he needed proof before telling Mabel her boyfriend was a zombie. "I don't have any proof." He fast forwarded through some of the tape and found himself looking at Mabel and Norman staring into the sunset. "I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and-" He stopped mid-sentence as Norman's hand dropped off and Mabel's boyfriend rushed to put it back on before she noticed. "Wait, WHAT?" He rushed to rewind and watched the clip again, almost toppling off the end of his bed in a mixture of triumph and panic. "I was right. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" He scrambled for the stairs, calling for Grunkle Stan. He was going to need help rescuing Mabel from her undead boyfriend.

He didn't stick around long enough to see the creature guarding the book head after him, pick up the camera, watch the clip that had Dipper so excited, and start to laugh. "Totally not a member of the undead," she drawled, dropping the video camera on the bed before trailing after the boy with the book.


	5. Chapter 5

Dipper and Mabel stumbled into the Mystery Shack, exhausted but glowing from the triumph of defeating the gnomes that had been pretended to be Norman, in relative silence, grinning at each other. Neither one had ever been able to resist a good adventure and, despite their mutual disappointment in the fact that Norman had been a bunch of gnomes instead of a zombie or a vampire, it had been a great one. They rushed up the stairs, the creature guarding the book trailing smugly after Dipper, flinging open the door and diving onto their beds, cackling with laughter. "That was awesome," Mabel said between giggles.

"Yeah," Dipper agreed with a wide grin, flopping back on the bed. It dipped a little as the creature settled next to him, grinning widely.

"I told you so," she practically sang in his ear. Dipper scowled at her when Mabel wasn't looking. She grinned widely at him in response, sharp teeth gleaming.

"No you didn't," he hissed at her.

Her shoulders shook with barely suppressed laughter and Mabel rolled her head over so she could look at him. "Who are you talking to bro-bro?"

"Uhh," Dipper stammered, tilting his head slightly to glance at the creature that was making a physical dent in his bed before meeting Mabel's eyes. "Just myself."

"Okay," Mabel said, wholeheartedly accepting his explanation and turning back to grin at the ceiling. Then she bounced upright saying, "Oh, I forgot to put away the leaf blower." She launched herself off her bed and scrambled out of their room, leaving Dipper alone with the creature.

"I did tell you so," she informed him, flicking her dark braids over her shoulder.

"No," Dipper insisted. "You didn't. You just said Norman wasn't a zombie."

"Well he wasn't, was he?" she jabbed with a sharp grin. Dipper scowled at her but couldn't figure out how to argue with that statement. "Aww," she cooed at his glare. "You're absolutely adorable."

"I am not adorable," Dipper mumbled, disgruntled, and she cackled.

"Just keep telling yourself that kiddo," she purred and, before Dipper could respond Mabel came bounding into their room again.

"Night, Dipper," she chirped, flipping off the light.

"Night, Mabel," he mumbled, reaching for the book and his flashlight. Now that he'd rescued Mabel from her boyfriend, Dipper could focus on discovering what exactly the creature guarding the book was. And how to get rid of her.

The book had all kinds of fascinating information inside it, and Dipper found himself struggling to avoid being distracted. His eyelids grew heavy as he struggled to continue his research. Long nights of trying to put together proof that Norman was a zombie after Mabel's brains wore on him, sleep threatening to overtake him. He found himself reading the same sentences over and over again without comprehending what the passage was saying. His head bowed further towards the book and his hand holding the flashlight sagged towards the covers of the bed. Minutes later he drifted into a peaceful sleep, hunched protectively over the book while the beam of his flashlight sent a pale circle of illumination towards the doorway.

The creature on the bed shook her head at the sight, an almost fond smirk on her sharp features. "That's gonna hurt in the morning," she murmured but made no move to shift the boy into a more comfortable position. That would be kind, and she was far from kind. Instead she settled comfortably on the bed, turning her gaze towards the ceiling. With Dipper so entangled with the journal, she needn't worry about it being taken. The boy would surely kick up enough fuss that she would notice if someone or something attempted to take it. Watching the patterns of light shift slightly on the ceiling as sparse clouds drifted calmly across the brilliant moon, she allowed her eyes to drift shut, pondering her current predicament.

When she'd found her way out of the demon realm and into the body of eccentric inventor Fiddleford McGucket, she hadn't imagined that she would be discovered, let alone that she would be bound to guard over a journal hidden in the woods for years. Instead she'd thought that she would be free to roam as she wished, causing chaos and feeding off all those delicious emotions which abounded around a human in turmoil. Years away from the demon realm coupled with a lack of human presence had weakened her to the point where she could no longer appear to anyone not in direct contact to the journal, which bound her to existence as well as to itself.

Stanford Pines had been incredibly thorough when he had gone through the process of binding her. He'd obviously known what he was doing and, despite the lingering disgust she felt at being caught by a lowly human, she couldn't help but hold some grudging respect for him. Stanford had accomplished something that was all but impossible for humans, who never seemed to know the right way to deal with demons, especially ones of a higher ranking than herself. She was uncertain of how he had come about the correct information, but she had never been given a chance to discover his source. Instead Stanford had taken the journal, with her attached to it, to hide it, unwilling to have all the journals in the same place.

She had heard his muttering, as he waited impatiently for her to adjust to the binding and solidify fully in the human realm. His brother, Stanley, had been called for and the first journal would go to him, the intention that all three remain far from one another. The creature found it incredibly amusing that, regardless of all of Stanford's harried planning, two of the journals were in the same home. She had known, from looking at the "Stanford Pines" Dipper and Mabel had been calling Grunkle Stan, that the man was not the Stanford that had bound her. She suspected that instead it was Stanley Pines, which meant he head the first journal. That Stanford Pines had worked so hard to keep the journals separated only to have them drawn back together was incredibly amusing.

Dipper shifted, murmuring in his sleep, and she turned her head to take him in before deciding he was only dreaming. She relaxed again, waiting for the inevitable lightening of the ceiling as the sun rose. She disliked this time of day immensely. Much like her years in the woods guarding the journal, while Dipper slept she was cut off from both her source of food and her only entertainment. Dreams were not her domain to touch, so any emotions evoked from them were also off limits. She had never heard a proper explanation as to why this was so and had eventually learned it was wiser not to ask. An impatient sigh escaped her lips and she rolled slightly to study Dipper in the growing light.

Some time over the course of his sleep, he'd shifted so that his cheek was pressed against an open page of the journal, his neck twisted at an awkward angle. His hat had fallen to the floor and his hair shifted with each peaceful breath. A person would have likely thought the scene cute. She found it sickening. Peaceful emotions were not something she was able to feed off of. They made her ill, in a very physical sense, made it feel as if something were trying to eat her from the inside out. It was one of the reasons she was glad that Dipper had found the journal instead of Mabel. The girl was simply far too chipper to handle. Dipper, he was better. Most days he practically overflowed with emotion, whether it was irritation or hurt or embarrassed rage, the flavors almost addicting.

Hunger twisted inside her at the thought and she shifted again, curling her frame up towards the head of the bed. Sunlight was beginning to stream through the window now and she knew it wouldn't be long before Dipper woke. She let a smile that was nothing less than predatory in anticipation of the brief moment of panic the boy always went through when he spotted her first thing in the morning. Fear was like sweets. Too much of it could make one sick but, in small doses, it was oh so delicious. Her pink tongue swiped across her lips as Dipper stirred, beginning to wake. Today was probably going to be full of Dipper trying to figure out what exactly she was, not that he was going to find anything in that particular journal, so she would need to savor the burst of fear. It would probably be the only food she gained from him all day.


	6. Chapter 6

Dipper woke the next morning half expecting the events of the past few days to be a dream. The adventure felt like it had been too good to be true so it was with a flash of relief that he took in the sight of the creature attached to the book. She studied him, looking almost displeased. "It was real," he breathed out with a grin, stretching out sore muscles and shifting into a more comfortable position.

"Of course it was real, silly," Mabel chirped, perched on the edge of her bed, already dressed and wide awake. She'd always been an early riser, the counterbalance to Dipper's habit of staying up late into the night reading and waking up during the mid-afternoon hours. He grinned at her and she grinned back before bouncing to the floor. "Now come on, sleepyhead. We've got stuff to do today!" She bounded through the door, letting it swing shut behind her. That left Dipper alone with the creature guarding the book.

She'd shifted while Dipper's attention had been on his twin, now perched on the headboard of the bed looking thoroughly disgusted. "You two are so sweet, its sickening," she sneered. Dipper frowned at her sour tone and barely resisted the urge to scramble off the bed in the general direction Mabel had gone.

"What's so wrong with that?"

"Isn't it obvious, kiddo?" came the exasperated sigh. "You've been worrying you little head over your sister for days now and the whole time I've been getting stronger and stronger." She gave him a condescending looking grin and added, "You're supposed to be the smart one. You should be able to figure it out."

Dipper looked down at the book in his lap, stung by the insinuation that he was being stupid. Maybe he had foolishly believed Norman was a zombie to start with instead of a bunch of gnomes but that didn't mean he was stupid, did it? A hum of absolute satisfaction drew his attention and Dipper turned to see the creature lick her lips as if a feast had been set before her. He froze, feeling very much like prey as a trickle of fear locked up his mind. Her grin widened and, just before he froze up completely, an idea crept forward. He blew out a breath, considering the creature's obvious disgust when he and Mabel had been happy, and his eyes widened. "You feed off emotion."

"Give the kid a prize," she drawled, rolling her eerie eyes towards the ceiling. "Yeah, I feed off all that misery and worry but happiness? Ugh. Tastes like something rotted." She wrinkled her nose at mere thought while Dipper stared blankly at her, mind struggling to catch up with what he'd just been told. She studied him for a moment and then smirked, asking, "What's wrong kid? Did I break your head already?"

"W-what are you?" he managed to stammer out finally and she grinned.

"I think I'll let you figure that out on your own," she told him smugly and he scowled.

"Fine. Who are you then?" If she was going to be hanging around he needed something better to call her than the creature. He also needed a way to introduce her to Mabel that wouldn't make it seem like he'd gone crazy. Sure they'd just battled a bunch of gnomes together but that didn't mean she'd believe him when he said there was some kind of creature attached to the book he'd found in the woods.

The creature shrugged in response. "If you figure that out, let me know."

"You don't know your own name?" Dipper questioned incredulously.

"It was lost," was the stiff reply, red eyes gleaming. Dipper's mouth snapped shut, something about the darkness in her eyes warning him not to push the subject. He turned his attention nervously towards the book in his lap, skimming over the text as he worked on discovering where he'd left off. "You can call me Andrietta," her voice announced suddenly. Dipper's head snatched up, away from the page about something called the Hide Behind, and he stared at her. "It's as good a name as any," she told him with a shrug. Dipper wanted to point out that you couldn't just pick out any old name you liked and call it your own but... Well, humans had nicknames they picked out, didn't they? And he really didn't feel like getting into an argument over names today.

The room fell silent as Dipper continued to read. He'd intended to skim over the information so he could more quickly discover what exactly Andrietta was but instead he found himself drawn into the book. There were hundreds of creatures cataloged inside its pages and each piece of information he read only made him more determined to uncover the secrets of Gravity Falls. He became so absorbed in his research that Mabel had to bound back upstairs an hour later to fetch him for breakfast.

"You can't stay inside all day bro-bro," she chirped, snatching the book out of his hands. "Not when-"

Dipper never got to hear the rest of Mabel's sentence because her mouth abruptly snapped shut and she stared at the head of her twin's bed. Dipper turned too, expecting to see Andrietta grinning cheekily at him, but instead he saw...nothing. His head whipped around as he searched for any sign of the creature that haunted his every step when he held the book but he saw nothing but the same old room. "Mabel?" he asked cautiously and his sister turned terrified eyes to him.

"D-Dipper," she stuttered, reaching out a hand to point to the headboard of his bed. Dipper turned to look at it again but still saw nothing. His eyes narrowed suspiciously and, very slowly, he reached out to place a hand on the book his twin was still holding. Just as he'd suspected, Andrietta appeared, grinning like the cat that had caught the canary. Dipper lifted his hand away from the book and, even though he was staring directly at the creature, Andrietta was nowhere to be seen. As soon as he placed his hand back on the book though, he could see her again.

"So I can't see you if I'm not touching the book?" Dipper questioned, eyes narrowed. That didn't make any sense. He'd been able to see Andrietta since he'd discovered the book in the woods.

"Not exactly," she told him, sinking down to lounge on his bed. "I can make myself seen outside of the book if I have enough power but the person holding the book can always see me. Something about the binding." She shrugged at the end and Mabel let out a little choked sound.

"Dipper, w-what's going on?" his twin stammered out. "W-who is she?"

"She's Andrietta," Dipper explained in a matter-of-fact tone. After all, he'd had plenty of time to absorb what he was about to tell Mabel. "The author of the book bound her to protect it." He hesitated a moment and then added, "She's who I was talking to last night."

"Oh," Mabel breathed, still looking slightly shocked. Then, very carefully, she handed Dipper the book. The moment her hands left the cover she breathed out a sight of relief, shoulders slumping. Dipper didn't have the heart to tell her that just because Mabel couldn't see the creature didn't mean that Andrietta wasn't still there. "Meet me downstairs for breakfast?" she offered with a smile that brightened to its usual radiance when he nodded. "Great. See you downstairs bro-bro!" Then she bound out of the room, leaving Dipper alone with the creature.

"Well I guess I don't have to worry about how to tell Mabel about you," Dipper muttered at the demon, who snickered, before dropping the journal on the bed and heading in the direction his twin had gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Andrietta stretched out on Dipper's bed the instant the boy left for breakfast, a single bare foot almost touching the journal. Her dark hair and skirt spread across the covers. She was careful not to allow any part of her skin to touch the book, not wanting to experience the burning pain she'd felt the last time. She had enough problems at the moment without adding a burned foot into the mix for any amount of time. The sounds of talking from the downstairs kitchen area drifted up, her ears barely sensitive enough to catch the thread of the conversation. If she wanted to block out every noise around her she could listen to exactly what was being said, but that was too dangerous. It might leave the journal vulnerable.

Allowing the conversation to fade to background noise, she breathed out a sigh and opened her eyes, staring towards the slanted attic ceiling. If she could get her hands on a proper sacrifice, she could use the blood to paint protective sigils in the very fabric of the ceiling, since she was apparently going to be stuck here a while. Still, it was better than starving in the woods, only existing because she was bound to a stupid journal. She knew that Stanford Pines hadn't wanted this journal to fall into the wrong hands but there were easier ways to ensure the wrong person didn't get their hands on it than binding a demon to it. They likely all would have been better off if he'd just burned it.

Shaking her head, she sat up to run her fingers through her newly loose hair to clear out the lingering tangles her braids had left behind. She done them by hand when she was alone in the forest, after she'd given up all, dare she say it, hope that anyone would come near the area. Now, with all the changes that had happened to her recently, she felt the need to create a change she could control. She shifted, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, and found her face to face with another demon.

It looked like a woman who appeared as if she had been carved from a single block of obsidian. Her eyes were unsettling, even for a demon. The pupils were a brilliant violet and the whites of her eyes were a solid black, almost making them blend in with her skin. From the waist up she was complete human, though she wasn't wearing any kind of covering, but from her waist down she was covered in scales. They joined together to form a tail, the scales of which started out a green color so dark it was almost black and faded into a poisonous looking phosphorescent lime. At the end of her tail was a fan of blue and green feathers that were somehow growing there. Andrietta's eyes took in those details in an instant and then lifted up to pause just below a tiny nose, locked on lips the color of fresh blood.

Moving slowly and deliberately, Andrietta stood, her head only coming up to the woman's collarbone. Shifting to the right so she was standing in front of the book, Andrietta lifted her head so she could look into those unsettling eyes. "Who are you and want do you want?" she demanded. The woman's lips lifted into a smile, revealing two sharp snake fangs nestled between flat human teeth.

"Peace, child," she said and Andrietta scowled, her shoulders rising as if they were hackles on an angry dog. "My name is Izel," the woman continued, smiling at Andrietta as if she were a recalcitrant child.

"What do you want?" Andrietta snapped, not really caring that she had a name for the woman in front of her. She was more concerned with the fact that Izel might be after the journal that Andrietta could, for some reason, no longer touch.

"I had forgotten how you were at the beginning," Izel replied, her tone fond. "Or are now, as it is." She reached a hand out, as if to brush Andrietta's hair away from her face and the demon flinched back. She watched as Izel's face visibly closed off and her hand dropped to her side. "To business then," the snake woman said, her suddenly chilly voice sending a wave of fear through the demon. "Danger is coming child, and you cannot stop it." Izel's unnatural eyes swept over the small figure and then a slim hand shot out almost faster than Andrietta could register. A warm palm cupped her chin, keeping her eyes fixed on Izel's. "Remember, some things are inevitable. It is what you do with those instances of inevitability that determines the course of the future." Then the woman vanished before Andrietta's eyes.

Andrietta stood, frozen, in front of Dipper's bed. What had Izel been talking about and, more importantly, where had she come from? If she'd simply stepped out of the demon realm and into the human one, Andrietta should have felt the opening. Instead Izel had simply been there, where a moment ago there had been nothing. It was worrisome, to say the least.

"It's my turn to use the camera, Dip," Mabel's voice cried over the sudden thundering of approaching footsteps, the sound sending Andrietta snapping around to face the doorway, body tensing like a coiled spring for a moment before she relaxed, sliding easily into amusement.

"No way, Mabel," Dipper called back, flinging open the door to their room with his free hand, the other one cradling a slightly battered looking video camera close to his chest. "Last time you used the camera you practically blinded Grunkle Stan with a rainbow."

"You helped with that plan," Mabel replied scrambling up the last steps and sending her twin retreating into their room.

"Only because you hid my notebook of weird occurrences and wouldn't tell me where it was until I helped," the boy replied.

"Come on, Dipper," Mabel whined, expression pitiful. "Please let me use the camera today." When his expression wavered the girl pressed her advantage, adding, "I promise I'll help you with your next episode of Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained."

"Like you helped with the mailbox?" Dipper asked warily, but Andrietta could already see that he was going to cave to his sister's demands.

"Not like the mailbox," Mabel replied. "I promise I'll do exactly what you tell me to."

Dipper hesitated for just a moment longer and then relented, saying, "Okay, here."

"Yay!" Mabel squealed, bounding forward and snatching the camera before hugging Dipper tightly and bouncing off. Her twin watched her go, a mildly horrified expression fixed on his face.

"What have I done?" he asked the ceiling and, when he received no answer, he turned to Andrietta.

"Unleashed the unnatural forces of Mabel into the world," she suggested.

"My sister's not unnatural," Dipper informed her with a scowl, brushing past her to snatch up the journal.

"Yeah, she is," Andrietta replied dryly. "Let's face it kiddo, no one should be that happy all the time." Dipper gave her a disgruntled look that said he thought he should be able to argue with the statement but couldn't, before turning back to the journal. Andrietta let out an exasperated sound and sank down on the floor next to his bed, resigned to boredom in the immediate future. She'd only been around the boy for a few days, but she already knew that he wasn't going to be moving anywhere any time soon.


	8. Chapter 8

Dipper was getting used to waking up to someone watching him, which was sad considering the fact that it had only been a week and a half since he'd discovered the book hidden in a secret compartment in the woods. To be fair, in the week and a half he'd battled gnomes with Mabel, been chased by a mechanical lake monster designed by old man MacGucket, and fought a small army of wax statues. Compared to that, the continuing mystery of what Andrietta was and how to get rid of her was not as momentous as it had first been. This was also added by the solid fact that she couldn't harm any of the Pines family. He'd been worried, initially, about Wendy and Soos, but the creature didn't seem to have any interest in them. In fact, some days it seemed like she stayed around solely to torment Dipper.

Mabel had quickly overcome her unease about Andrietta's presence, probably helped by the fact that she couldn't see the creature most of time, and returned to her usually bubbly self. Andrietta was, by her own admission, growing stronger every day, but she rarely chose to allow Mabel to see her. Instead she seemed content to hang around the book, and be generally unhelpful in any way possible. Dipper was getting used to that too.

Today he, Soos, and Mabel were tucked away in the Mystery Shack's den area, watching television while Wendy minded the gift shop and Stan led yet another tour. Andrietta was settled next to Dipper on the floor, just close enough that he could practically feel her presence looming over him. Even after a week and a half of the creature being around, that aspect of Andrietta's presence still made him feel uneasy. Trying to ignore her, he forced himself to focus on the television narrator who was announcing, "The tiger was badly injured but we repaired him with a fist." Mabel let out an excited squeal and Dipper forced himself to cheer with Soos as the title card came into view. He could hear Andrietta's disgusted snort from behind him, the sound making his shoulders tense, but he forced himself to act normal. "Tiger Fist!...Will return after these messages."

The screen changed and Dipper was just turning back to the book, planning on getting some reading done, when Soos's voice suddenly announced, "Hey, look. It's that commercial I was telling you guys about." Dipper's head lifted immediately, his curiosity peaked. Soos had come into work a couple of mornings ago with a story about a commercial he'd seen. The handyman had said that their might be competition for the Mystery Shack but hadn't mentioned what it was, and neither Dipper nor Mabel had seen the commercial.

"Are you completely miserable?" a man's voice said.

"Yes," came an overly distraught wail in response.

"Then you need to meet..." The man's voice paused for a moment before lowering to a whisper. "Gideon."

"Gideon?" Dipper questioned.

"What makes him so special?" Mabel added skeptically.

"He's a psychic," the man doing the voice over continued as if answering Mabel's question.

"Ooh," Mabel cooed, brightening immediately while Andrietta snorted again, muttering something in a voice too low for Dipper to hear.

"So don't waste your time with the other so-called 'man of mystery'," the voice continued, showing a clip of Stan stepping out of an outhouse. "Learn about tomorrow tonight at Gideon's Tent of Telepathy."

"Wow," Mabel breathed, face practically glowing with the force of her grin. "I'm getting all curiousy inside."

"Well don't get too curiousy," Grunkle Stan grumbled, stomping grouchily into the room. "Ever since that monster Gideon rolled into town I've had nothing but trouble."

"Well, is he really psychic?" Mabel asked, turning her attention quickly towards Stan.

"Doubtful," Dipper heard Andrietta mutter and her glanced at her only to flinch and look away at the sour scowl fixed on her face.

"I think we should go and find out," he suggested, wincing a little when Mabel let out an excited squeal at the idea.

"Never," Stan snapped. "You're forbidden from patronizing the competition. No one that lives under my roof is allowed under that Gideon's roof."

Dipper absorbed the angry sounding tirade and then asked, "Do tents have roofs?" Grunkle Stan hadn't heard him, already stomping out of the room to deal with more customers. Mabel had though.

"I think we just found our loophole," Mabel sang.

Dipper nodded as the voice over voice finished the commercial, saying, "So come down soon, folks. Gideon is expecting you."

"I'll bet he is," Andrietta's dark voice said from just behind Dipper's right shoulder. The boy's brow furrowed as he wondered what exactly the creature was talking about but he wasn't going to ask now. Soos would think he'd gone crazy. Instead Dipper forced himself to withhold his questions until Mabel and Soos were focused on the return of Tiger Fist before slinking out of the room, book carefully cradled in his arms. Andrietta followed, the edge of her skirt rustling against her bare ankles.

"What do you know about Gideon?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Whatever you just saw from his commercial," came the dry reply. Dipper frowned at the answer, sure she was lying, but from her stony expression he could tell that she wasn't going to elaborate further. He turned back, figuring he should probably rejoin Soos and Mabel before they wondered why he'd gone missing. "You're determined to go see Gideon, aren't you?" her voice inquired, making him stop in his tracks.

"I want answers," he said after a moment, turning back to look at her. "And that's the only way to get them."

"And you're going to take the book with you?"

"Yes."

Andrietta studied him as if he were a bug that she was deciding whether or not to squash him. Then she breathed out an exasperated sigh and motioned for him to come over. When he didn't move she grated out, "Come sit." He crossed the room softly to settle cross legged on the kitchen floor rather than in the chair Andrietta had motioned to. She scowled and then sank down across from him. Her intense eyes felt as if they were looking straight through him and it was a long minute before she blinked. A nervous sweat broke out on Dipper's palms and he had to place the book down to wipe them on his shorts.

"Gideon isn't a real psychic," she said at last, her gaze never leaving his eyes. "Humans can't be psychic. It would require their brain to make a connection with another person's brain and that isn't possible for your kind."

"So how is Gideon passing himself off as a psychic?" Dipper demanded eagerly, leaning forward.

"Two ways," she replied. "The first is the way most humans do that is by fraud. They use observation, spying, and planting their own agents in the crowd to pass themselves off as mind readers."

"And the second way?"

"The second way is what I'm worried about," Andrietta replied in a tone that implied the conversation was over.

"Dipper, you're missing Tiger Fist," Mabel yelled from the next room.

"I'm still going to the Tent of Telepathy," Dipper said stubborn, forcing himself not flinch at her furious stare. Then he rose, book cradled in his arms, and hurried out of the room to join Mabel and Soos.

Left behind in the kitchen, Andrietta scowled at the doorway. The second way that a human could pass themselves off as psychics, the one she hadn't wanted to discuss with Dipper, was by making a deal with a demon. Demons were, by definition, psychic, and they could pass some of their abilities to a human via a token of some sort. The price was, generally speaking, high and if the token were to be destroyed the power would be instantly gone. Furthermore, losing the token in question was generally permission for the demon who'd lent their power through it to kill the person who'd lost it and all those who'd touched the token after it had been taken. Those kind of tokens were bad news.

She didn't particularly want to find out which form of psychic Gideon was. If he used simple trickery to fool people, Andrietta would feel foolish about worrying. If Gideon had made a deal with a demon, then Dipper taking the journal to the Tent of Telepathy would put it in serious danger. Andrietta had no doubt that any demon handing over part of their power would be hanging around, just to make sure someone didn't get their hands on it. If so, said demon would want Andrietta gone, which would lead to even further trouble. Going to visit the Tent of Telepathy was not a good idea, but Andrietta doubted that she was going to get to stay away from it.


	9. Chapter 9

Gideon Tent of Telepathy was less than impressive. Andrietta's keen gaze swept across the outside of it as she trailed just behind Mabel, Soos, and Dipper. The boy had, as promised, brought his journal with him which had forced Andrietta along on this unwanted outing. The inside of the tent was crowded with the majority of the residents of Gravity Falls, all of them just waiting to see Gideon. Their wave of excitement was enough to make Andrietta nauseous and she shivered with fever chills as she settled into the empty seat next to Dipper.

"Whoa," Dipper murmured. "This is like a bizarro version of the Mystery Shack. They even have their own Soos."

While Soos was staring down the handyman Dipper had pointed out, Andrietta scanned the tent, looking for anything suspicions. She didn't have to look far. The portion of the tent that held a stage was much different than its surroundings. Where the rest of the tent was a cool, soothing shade of blue that was somehow accented by the honey colored wood of the pews, the stage and its surrounding area were faded, just shy of being black and white. The only reason any area would look like that was a dampening spell, and that meant exactly one thing; there was a demon wandering around somewhere and they didn't want their aura recognized. Andrietta hated being right sometimes.

"It's starting, it's starting!" Mabel hissed, voice barely under a squeal as she bounced in her seat, the lights above them dimming.

"Let's see what this monster looks like," Dipper added and Andrietta nodded in agreement. It was time to figure out what demon was powering Gideon's little sideshow attraction.

Gideon bounced into view, the little boy dressed in what Andrietta suspected would have been a bright blue suit. His hair was done up in a ridiculously high pompadour and, like the stage he was standing on, his color was extremely faded. The only brilliant color on him was a blue-green amulet on a bright gold chain. A harsh white light seemed the surrounded the jewel, the signature of whatever demon had gifted Gideon with some of their power. The boy launched into a song number but Andrietta focused her full attention on the surrounding tent, waiting for the demon to show itself. It shouldn't take long.

Demons were naturally attuned to the presence of others of their kind. Andrietta suspected that it was a built in defensive device considering the fact that convincing one demon to even coexist with another was akin to herding cats. It only took a moment before a serpentine figure slithered around a curtain. Andrietta's eyes narrowed as the brilliant light faded enough for her to catch a glimpse of bronze colored bird wings attached to a silver scaled body. Empty black eyes fixed on her wine red ones and narrowed into slits before, with a flick of it's powerful tail, it shifted behind the curtain again.

Andrietta did not allow herself to believe for even an instant that there would be no further contact between herself and the other demon. Being territorial was practically written into a demon's very being and Andrietta was in this other demon's territory. Trouble was coming, and she could only hope that the journal would be left out of it. Dipper was firmly focused on Gideon's act, trying to discern whether or not it was real, but he wouldn't have likely be able to see it regardless because the creature currently didn't exist on the physical plain.

"Who are you?" the other demon demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Andrietta replied with a sneer. She might not be powerful enough to take out this demon at the moment but that didn't mean she was going to just give the other what it wanted to know. The demon scowled, in so much as something with a serpent's face could scowl, and Andrietta barely bit down a snicker.

The demon's powerful body coiled, claws slicing through the air as she paused right in front of Andrietta's face. "You will answer me," the other demon hissed, giving Andrietta a good look at a forked tongue. She flashed a sneer at the other demon despite the fact that she could feel the power rolling off the other one in waves.

"Make me," she challenged and then wondered if she hadn't just made a mistake when the other demon's eyes glowed a blinding silver.

"Who are you?" the demon hissed.

"I don't know," Andrietta's mouth said without her conscious guidance, the statement more honest than she would have liked it to be. The demon looked shocked, blinding glow fading from her eyes.

"Who're you?" Andrietta demanded, taking advantage of the other demon's shock.

"Why should I tell a nobody such as yourself?" the demon scoffed in response, recovering herself.

Andrietta scowled at the response, casting a quick look towards Dipper and the journal before turning her gaze back towards the other demon. "Because you want to be able to gloat about the pretty piece of trickery you just pulled off," she retorted smoothly, gaze thoroughly unimpressed.

"Fair enough," the demon replied with a smug smile. "I am Aletha the Truthteller. I can look into your mind and call the truth to light should I wish."

"And that amulet you gave sweet Lil Gideon allows him to look into others minds just as you can," Andrietta finished dryly. "How cute."

"It can do much more than that," Aletha scoffed.

"Oh really?" Andrietta inquired with a measuring look. That was interesting. The more power a demon sank into an amulet, the less the actually had to use for themselves. Giving someone part of a demon's inherent ability resulted in a relatively low loss of power, but anything more began to quickly drain the amount of power the demon could hold while outside their home realm. It was possible then that Aletha was not currently as powerful as Andrietta had been led to believe. A slow, sinister smile curled its way on to her face. Maybe this whole situation could play out to her advantage after all.

"Naturally," was Aletha's blithe reply. "Had you applied yourself the way you should have during your years of apprenticeship, you would be able to do the same instead of simply lingering in the human realm and making a fool of yourself."

"Oh I applied myself plenty," Andrietta said with a nasty grin. "I just ran into somebody on this backwater realm that happened to know more than they should have about effectively binding demons. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Andrietta finished her statement off with a blinding, beauty pageant smile, watching as silver scales dulled to a pale, shocked grey and wings stiffened.

"Bound?" Aletha screeched, tail whipping around and striking into the head of the man sitting in front of her. "You were bound?"

"You didn't know?" Andrietta inquired sweetly, shrinking down so she was a tiny, pigtailed six year old, still with wine red eyes and sharp teeth. Her feet kicked back and forth over the edge of the chair. The man Aletha had struck in the head with her tail turned to glare at the person behind him only to end up gaping in confusion at what he thought was an empty chair. Andrietta gave him a crocodile grin that didn't belong on a child's face before turning her attention back to Aletha. "I would have thought you would have already known."

"Why would I have known?" Aletha snarled, forked tongue fluttering outside her mouth for a moment.

"Because you are so much more educated than myself," Andrietta replied demurely, folding her tiny hands in her lap and giving the other demon a sweet smile without baring her teeth.

"You," Aletha hissed lowly, eyes darting nervously around the tent before falling back on the younger demon. "You are nothing but trouble. Stay far away from me or I will eliminate you."

Andrietta watched, amused, as the other demon spread stiff wings and flew upwards, vanishing in a blaze of blinding light. The tent was beginning to empty out and Dipper turned to look at her and started. "Why are you so..." Dipper whispered, trailing off and gesturing towards her smaller body.

"So what?" Andrietta asked with a sweet smile, watching the boy make a sickened face at her still jagged teeth.

Before he could comment any further on her appearance, Mabel grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the exit, saying, "Come on, bro-bro. Let's go before Grunkle Stan notices we're gone!" Andrietta wrinkled her nose at the girl's ever present optimism. Their great uncle had likely already noticed that Mabel and Dipper were gone and also likely knew where they'd been. She doubted he'd say anything about their absence. Old Mr. Pines had other things to worry about, like keeping secrets from his nosy great nephew. A tug at the center of her chest had her turning, a smirk fixed on her face as she trailed after Dipper and the journal. Her fun was over for the moment. Time to get back to work.


	10. Chapter 10

Unfortunately Dipper and Mabel's secret trip to Gideon's Tent of Telepathy was not the end of the affair. If it had been, Andrietta would have been able to relax properly again, but the little ball of sunshine that was Mabel Pines had decided it was a good idea to befriend Gideon Gleeful. Every time the little fake would come around to meet her, Andrietta could feel the other demon just lurking there. It made any semi-balance of humanity melt away from her, left her pacing around while Dipper tried to focus on the journal. Her agitation often snowballed, leading the boy to fidget restlessly until he gave up on his research. Usually he left the journal on his bed when the tension got too much for him and retreated downstairs to see what Grunkle Stan needed help with.

Today, however, he didn't retreat downstairs. Instead he grumbled, "Would you stop that?" Andrietta startled a little, suddenly realizing that there was a low growl of agitation rumbling in her chest. The demon went unnaturally still, trying to pinpoint exactly why the occasional presence of Aletha disturbed her so much. It wasn't so much that the other demon was more powerful than her, not really. While that worried her, Aletha wasn't so powerful that Andrietta could not, through trickery, defeat her. Why then did Aletha agitate her to the point of growling?

Dipper flipped a page in the journal, the paper rustling, and Andrietta tried to sit still on the edge of the boy's bed. She felt as if her entire body had been stretched to the snapping point and, at any moment, she would break. Another page turned and Andrietta's head snapped around, focusing on the sound. Her mouth had opened to snap at Dipper only to snap shut when she came to a sudden realization. The reason why she was so upset about Aletha's occasional presence was that the other demon was encroaching on her territory. Demons were highly territorial, Andrietta being no exception, and since Dipper had uncovered the journal in the woods the Mystery Shack had become her home. By coming here with Gideon, Aletha was stepping on Andrietta's toes, and possibly putting the journal in danger. Worse yet was the knowledge that Andrietta was letting her do so. The revelation was not exactly comforting.

"What's wrong with you anyway?" Dipper questioned, finally settling the journal aside to look at her.

"Do you remember when we talked about Gideon, before the Tent of Telepathy?" Andrietta questioned with a sigh, hoping the boy had. She didn't really want to rehash the conversation. Not with the frustration of having another demon in her territory so close to the surface.

"About how Gideon could be passing himself off as psychic?" Dipper asked. "I remember."

"Good," Andrietta said, folding her arms over her chest. "Then it shouldn't surprise you much to learn that Gideon is harnessing the power of a demon in order to pretend to be telepathic."

For a moment Dipper only stared at her, eyes wide and mouth gaping open in shock. Then he sputtered a bit and gasped out, "Gideon has a demon working for him?"

"Hard to believe, I know," Andrietta drawled sarcastically. "But the puffed up little peacock managed to summon a demon and make a deal for a neat little slice of the pie. Now he's got the power he wanted, and the demon can roam free through this realm, provided that the charm still exists."

"Mabel's out there with Gideon right now," Dipper fretted. "And Gideon has a demon at his command." Andrietta licked her lips with a pale pink tongue, savoring the boy's panic as Dipper jumped to his feet and began pacing. After a moment he seemed to reach some kind of conclusion as he grabbed the book and scrambled for the door.

"Where are you going, kiddo?" Andrietta called curiously, slipping off the bed to follow him. Dipper had just found out the supernatural existed a week or so ago. What did he think he was going to be able to do against a demon?

"I'm not letting my sister be alone with Gideon for one minute longer," Dipper called back. The tether that tied Andrietta to the journal dragged her along after him as he raced down the stairs.

"What do you think [i]you[/i] are going to be able to do against a demon?" she taunted as the sound of the front door slamming shut behind someone drifted up to them.

"I'll think of something," Dipper replied stubbornly, skipping the last few steps and nearly slamming into a moody looking Mabel. "[i]Mabel[/i]!" His excited cry only made the usually perky girl look even more upset. Andrietta basked in the unusual flow of negative emotions from Mabel and perched on the stair railing to watch the show. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Okay?" Mabel warbled, expression growing even more grim. "[i]Okay?[/i]" Andrietta savored the rich flavor of anger spiced with notes of anxiety, enjoying the feast while it lasted. She had no doubt that Mabel would bounce back quickly, the girl had the kind of personality that would more easily allow her to rebound from troubles than most people, and watched as it dawned on Dipper that something was wrong.

"Mabel, what happened?" he asked, eyes going wide with concern. Behind him, Andrietta pursed her lips as the sudden, sour-sweet taste that suddenly smothered her meal. Concern could be a delightful glaze over other emotions should it be selfish, but concern for others always seemed to be trapped between sour and sweet, as if it wasn't quite certain whether it was a negative emotion or a positive one. She drank it down, regardless of the taste, because she wasn't yet strong enough to pass up a decent meal.

"It's Gideon," Mabel replied with a forlorn expression on her face, flopping on the floor.

"What did he do?" Dipper demanded in the tone of someone about to kill the person who had hurt their loved one. The tone was comical, considering that Dipper had all the physical prowess of a bumblebee, but it was enough to quirk the corners of Mabel's mouth upward for a moment.

"Nothing that bad," she said, blowing out a heavy sigh that blew strands of her thick, brown hair out of her face. "We were just talking on the roof of his house when he, well... He asked me on a date."

"Okay?" Dipper questioned, face crinkling in confusion. "I thought you wanted a boyfriend this summer."

"I did. I do!" Mabel cried, flinging her hands in the air in exasperation. "I just... I didn't want it to be Gideon." She dropped her hands to cover her face and Andrietta snickered, making Dipper turn to glare at her.

"Can't you go somewhere else?" the boy demanded. "Mabel and I are trying to talk."

"Go?" Andrietta questioned mockingly. "And miss all this fun? Not a chance. Besides, you're still toting around the book."

Dipper groaned, tossing the journal aside, but Mabel peeked out between her fingers, shooting a look in what was, surprisingly, Andrietta's direction. The demon was beginning to think the Pines family might be just a little bit magic, especially considering all the luck they seemed to have in knowing when she was around. Still, that was an investigation for another time. "Let her stay," Mabel said, covering her eyes back up again. "Maybe she'll have some advice for how to convince a boy you don't want to date him."

"You're going on a date with him?" Dipper squeaked. At the same time Andrietta groaned, forcing herself on to the physical plane in the form of a twelve year old girl with silky black pigtails.

"My only advice is to eat him," she informed Mabel dryly. "But I don't think you're into the other white meat." The squeamish look on Mabel's face confirmed her statement and Andrietta drank down the disgust with relish.

"Okay, okay," Dipper was saying, pacing back and forth. "It isn't so bad. I mean, it's just one date, right?"

"Right," Mabel agreed, brightening considerably. "Just one date and I can tell him I just want to be friends. It'll be fine." Bouncing to her feet, Mabel leaned over and pulled Dipper into a hug. "Thanks bro-bro!" She rushed away before he could respond, leaving her brother to stare in confusion after her. After a moment, he shook his head and turned to scowl at Andrietta.

"What?" she questioned cheerfully, slipping easily back onto a plane of existence where only Dipper could see her.

"What kind of help are you?" He demanded. "Eat him? What kind of advice was that?"

"I'm not around to be helpful, kiddo," she replied with a sly grin, watching with amusement as the boy stomped over to grab the journal. "I'm just along for the ride, and I must say that you provide the most wonderful entertainment."

"Go away," Dipper muttered, heading towards the front door, probably to sulk by his favorite tree and read more of Stanford Pines' ridiculously well informed little journal.

"Only if you ditch the journal, kiddo."

"You'd probably like that," Dipper muttered, low enough that Andrietta guessed she hadn't been supposed to hear it. She grinned, shaking her head as she followed the boy out the front door. No, she didn't wish that he'd bury the journal like it had been before. Not anymore at least. She was having too much fun right where she was at.


	11. Chapter 11

Contrary to what Mabel had hoped, one date with Lil' Gideon was not the end of the entire affair. Instead a single date turned into two, then three. With each one the perky girl's anxiety grew, much to Andrietta's delight. This was the strongest she'd felt since Dipper had uncovered the journal, and it was wonderful. She stretched and let out a contented hum. Between Dipper's habit of perpetual worry and Mabel's emotions being constantly in knots, she was comfortable and well fed. Currently she was watching Mabel pace back and forth in front of Dipper, who was standing in a doorway, eyes wide. Mabel's yelling had drawn Dipper from the kitchen where he'd been staring out the window watching for the re-emergence of what he'd thought was a fairy he'd seen earlier that morning. Andrietta honestly didn't know if it was a fairy or not, but she'd been ridiculing the idea all afternoon.

"What happened on that date?" Dipper asked, concerned.

"I don't know!" Mabel wailed back. "I was in the friend zone, and then before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into the romance zone. It was like quicksand. Chubby quicksand!" She grabbed the edge of Dipper's shirt as she sank dramatically down to the floor and Andrietta was forced to clamp sharp teeth down on her lower lip to hold in laughter.

"Mabel, come on," Dipper pleaded, shooting a hopeless look over his shoulder at Andrietta. "It's not like you're gonna have to marry Gideon."

Mabel's emotions were just beginning to settle a little when Stanley Pines stuck his head through the doorway and announced, "Great news, Mabel. You have to marry Gideon!"

"What?" Mabel squawked, leaping to her feet.

"It's all part of my long term deal with Buddy Gleeful," Stanley continued, appearing to be oblivious to his niece's distress. "There's a lot of cash tied up in this thing. Plus I got this shirt." His gestured grandly towards the white shirt with the words, _Team Gideon_ , printed on it in blue ink. Then he frowned at the way his gut made the shirt bulge and added, "Ugh, I am fat," as if coming to some sort of revelation. Andrietta's shoulder's shook with the effort to hold in her laughter but this show was far too good to miss.

Mabel, absorbing the news, let out a high pitch wail and went running out of the room like the monster of the day was chasing her. "Bodies change, honey!" Stanley called after her. "Bodies change..."

Andrietta, not longer able to control herself, burst into convulsive laughter as she was pulled after Dipper. The boy had journal number three tucked under one arm as he sprinted after Mabel, his feet clattering on the stairs. He only paused to hiss, " _Shut up!_ " at Andrietta before flinging the door open. Mabel was at the foot of her bed, buried underneath the mass of pink wool that made up her sweater of the day, rocking back and forth. "Oh no, Mabel..." Dipper said, voice downcast.

"Mabel's not here," came the reply. "She's in sweater town."

Andrietta snickered, unable to help herself, and Dipper shot a glare her way before turning back to his sister. "Are you gonna come _out_ of sweater town?" Mabel made a negative noise and Dipper developed a stubborn look on his face. "Alright, enough is enough," the boy declared. "If you can't break up with Gideon, I'll do it for you."

"You will?" Mabel asked, peeking her head out of the top of her pink sweater. Dipper nodded and, unseen to the girl, Andrietta groaned. "Oh thank you, thank you, _thank you!_ " Mabel gushed, crawling across the floor to pull her twin into a hug.

"Okay, okay," Dipper laughed, hugging her back. "You're welcome."

After untangling himself from Mabel's hug, Dipper headed down the stairs, journal still tucked under his arm. Andrietta darted around him to stand at the foot of the stairs, arms folded over her chest. She purposefully chose a form that was older than Dipper, hoping to at least intimidate him into pausing. It worked. Perhaps too well because Dipper tripped down the last four stairs and she had to jump aside in order to avoid him landing on her. "Watch your step," she snapped, no more pleased by him almost landing on her than she was about a possible confrontation with another demon.

"Do you need something?" Dipper asked pointedly when he shoved himself up off the ground, scowling at her. He was obviously fixated on his current mission to free Mabel from Gideon, which was honorable enough to make anyone sick, and he didn't appreciate being interrupted. Well too bad. If he didn't want interrupted than he could put the journal back where he found it. It would mean Andrietta would be short a source of entertainment, but at the moment that would be better than having to fight with another demon over territory rights and the life of a boy she didn't particularly care for.

"Leave the book here," she demanded, scowling right back at him.

"Why?" The question was more curiosity than outright defiance and Andrietta sighed, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling.

"Because if you take the book with you to go break up with Gideon for Mabel, like you oh so sweetly promised to, then I'll have to go with you," she explained with mock patience. "And if I come with you, then we'll both have to deal with a demon."

"Oh," was Dipper's reply. "That wouldn't be good."

"Exactly," Andrietta said. "Now why don't you put the book down over here, and then you can go break Gideon's little black heart." When he hesitated she made an exaggerated gesture with her arm over at a side table. "It'll stay safe and sound there," she said with wicked grin as he crossed the floor to put down the journal. "Trust me."

That made Dipper hesitate, turning to study her uncertainly. "Won't I have to deal with a demon regardless of whether or not I take the journal with me?"

"That's not likely," Andrietta said dismissively. "Demons are particularly territorial, which is why I can't go, but you won't register as a threat to the one hanging around Gideon."

"Thanks for that, I think," Dipper said, placing the journal down on the side table. He hurried towards the door, obviously eager to get this whole mess over with, pausing only once to glance back at the journal before slipping out the front door. Bereft of her entertainment but safe for the time being, she settled on the floor next to the side table to wait.

Most demons would call her a coward for not wanting to provoke some kind of confrontation between herself and Aletha the Truthteller. The demon realm had been fully of petty squabbles over territories and power that she'd had no interest in. It had been partially because she had been far from strong enough to get into some kind of battle with another demon but largely because she had been far more interested in getting out of the demon realm than she had in establishing a place for herself within in. At the time, she hadn't thought there would be any serious repercussions towards her attitude but now, older and wiser, she knew better. Not only was she not strong enough to be confidant of a win against Aletha, she also didn't have all the necessary skills. The combination would result in not only Dipper's death, but also her own and would put the journal she was charge to protect in serious danger. While she wouldn't really care if Dipper didn't walk out of the confrontation, her own welfare and the protection of the journal were good enough reasons for her to remain in the Mystery Shack.

Dipper returned an hour later, grinning, and hurried up the stairs. Andrietta guessed, by the lightness of his mood, that the deed was done and he was going to tell Mabel the good news. Her suspicion was confirmed by an excited whoop from the girl in question, the emotion behind it causing the demon to sigh. The feast had been great while it lasted, but now it looked like she was back to slim pickings. Her stomach twisted unhappily at the thought but there was little Andrietta could do about that. After all, it wasn't as if she could harm the Pines twins, and dreams had never been her forte to manipulate in order to create the kind of emotional response she craved. She'd just had to suck it up and deal with the disgusting amount of happiness going around until the next crisis reared its lovely head. And knowing the kind of luck Dipper Pines seemed to have, that wouldn't take long.


	12. Chapter 12

Gideon hadn't taken the news of the breakup well and he'd decided that the best way to express his displeasure was to lure Dipper out to a creepy looking house on top of a hill in which the little, well coiffed troll stored his merchandise. Andrietta had been dragged along because of the journal, which was why she was currently locked in battle with another demon instead of keeping an eye on the object she was supposed to be protecting. And to think that this whole mess could have been avoided if Dipper hadn't answered the phone at the Mystery Shack.

Toby Determined had called and asked Dipper if he'd noticed anything unusual since arriving at Gravity Falls. For the pre-teen, it had been the perfect bait. Dipper had been give an address, 412 Gopher Road, and a time, seven o'clock, at which to meet Toby to discuss the strange happenings of the tiny town. He'd decided to take the journal with him as proof, dragging Andrietta after him as he'd sprinted out the door, and they'd stepped inside the building to the sight of Gideon in a high backed chair, playing with a Gideon plushie. The short conversation between the two boys had quickly turned sour as Gideon started using the power Aletha had granted him, throwing things around the room.

Andrietta had quickly lost track of what was going on between the two humans, the other demon taking her full focus. That led to her current predicament. Aletha had jumped at her with a serpentine head forward and mouth open to reveal razor sharp teeth. The impact sent them toppling back through the air to slam into one of the walls. Andriette yelped, startled, and shoved back, her claws out and her own teeth jagged and deadly. She hissed like a snake and snapped at Aletha's neck, intending to rip her throat out. Aletha propelled herself backwards with bronze wings, hissing at the younger demon. Sharp teeth melted away, leaving two fangs behind that dripped acidic looking violet poison.

The first strike missed by inches but the second one had fangs sinking deep into her shoulder, making her wince. Aletha pulled back with a nasty gleam in her eyes as Andrietta lifted a hand to staunch the flow of blood. She could feel whatever poison that Aletha had injected her with slipping through her veins, making dark blood boil. Her vision wavered and she lashed out before it was completely warped her sight, claws slicing through Aletha's bright wings. Black blood dripped from them as the older demon wobbled in the air, the wood hissing and smoking where droplets collided with the floor. "You shouldn't have done that," Aletha hissed and Andrietta gave her a predator's smile in response.

"Oh really?" she questioned archly. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I will erase you from existence," Aletha threatened. "Time and space will forget that you ever stained the fabric of the universe."

"Cute," Andrietta said shortly, unimpressed. "Can you come up with any original threats?"

"I am as old as the universe itself," Aletha snarled. "I came up with the original insults."

"And they're only original once," Andrietta taunted, dodging another strike from the other demon's fangs. She slashed out with claws as Aletha's head retreated, sending blood pouring down over the demon's eyes. Aletha hissed and shook her head, trying to clear the blood away so she could see. Andrietta was lunging forward to press her advantage only to have what felt like a rope around her middle pulling her back. She heard Dipper yell in panic as she crashed out a window, pulled after the falling boy who was still clutching the third journal in his arms.

 _"Help me!"_ Lil' Gideon was screaming, voice high and terrified. The pompous little boy had apparently toppled out the window after Dipper, because he was only a few inches above the boy, spinning head over pompadour in a useless attempt to slow his fall. His little cry for help wasn't going to save him either. They were all going to hit the ground hard, and Andrietta was going to be the only one to survive the fall. She was mildly more difficult to kill than an ordinary human, which didn't meant that the sudden stop wasn't going to sting something terrible. It only meant that she'd heal from the injuries and, considering that Aletha had poisoned her and that she still hadn't reached her full strength, it would take a long time for her movements to be completely without pain. On the plus side, Dipper would be dead and she'd be able to put the book back. Once she could walk again, that is.

Inches from impact, she, Dipper, and Gideon jerked to an abrupt stop. Gideon and Dipper were surrounded with blue-green light as they hung in the air for a moment. Andrietta also floated for a moment, glad that her wild free fall had stopped, before flipping around and settling gracefully on the ground, glancing upwards. Mabel was descending, surrounded in the same blue-green glow as the two boys, whom she dropped to the ground. She looked ethereal, like one of the creatures that lingered in some of the other realms that occasionally connected to the demon realm. Behind the twelve year old girl was Aletha, bright wings flared to control her descent and blood dripping from the wounds Andrietta had managed to inflict.

"Listen Gideon, it's over," Mabel said, landing smoothly on the ground and frowning at him. "I will never, ever, date you."

"Yeah!" Dipper chimed in, lifting a triumphant fist from where he was lying face down on the ground, and Andrietta snickered.

Gideon stared at Mabel with wide, shocked eyes, and the girl stared back for a moment before flinging the amulet towards him. It crashed to the ground, shattering like glass, as both Gideon and Aletha shrieked, " _No!"_

"My powers!" Gideon wailed. "Oh this isn't over. This isn't the last you'll see of wittle...ol'...me." Then he stood, brushed dust off his chubby body, and did his best to fade menacingly into the forest.

Andrietta ignored the blonde boy's attempt at a dramatic exit, instead turning her attention to Aletha. She waved cheekily at the snake shaped demon, stretching back into her normal, teenage form and grinning widely. "I guess you won't be erasing me from the universe after all," she mocked as Aletha's form wavered and flickered like a television channel that was coming in badly.

"I may have been easily dealt with, but Cipher is coming," Aletha hissed, body vanishing from the bottom up, like the Cheshire cat. "Cipher will deal with you." The last, lingering impression Andrietta got of the other demon was of a toothy grin.

"Come on, bro-bro," Mabel said, offering a hand to help her twin to his feet. "Let's go home."

"Yeah," Dipper said with a tired smile. The two stood, the boy tucking the journal under his arm, and stumbled along the cliff face towards the main road. Andrietta trailed after them, mind buzzing. The way Aletha had said _cipher_ implied that it was a name, not a reference to some kind of code, but Andrietta didn't know of any demon named Cipher. She, liked every other young demon, knew all the big names in their realm, like Marisia the Beautiful and Hamii the Thoughtful, but smaller names eluded her. She hadn't rubbed elbows, so to speak, with enough entities of the demon realm to know more than a handful of the names of smaller, lesser known entities who didn't get called to the human realm as often. Cipher might have been one of those or he might have been an entity that belonged to a different realm. Her only chance of finding the answer was the journal Dipper carried everywhere like a security blanket, but she hadn't been able to touch it since the boy had found it. That meant she'd have to find a chance to ask the boy to look for her. _Great_ , just what she had wanted. More socializing with the obnoxious human boy. Letting out an exasperated sight, she picked up the pace and hurried after the twins, listening for a chance to spring her request on Dipper.


	13. Chapter 13

Dipper's sleep was peaceful, despite the ordeal he'd been through, and he woke the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for anything. At least until he rolled over and noticed that Andrietta was pacing a track back and forth between the door of the bedroom and the triangular window. Her hair was a wild black cloud hovering around her shoulders in an invisible wind and her teeth were bared in a feral snarl. Her clawed fingers were curled so tightly into fists that the boy was surprised that she wasn't dripping blood on the floor. "Is something wrong?" Dipper asked, keeping his voice low so he wouldn't wake Mabel, who was sleeping peacefully for the first time since the whole mess with Gideon had started.

Andrietta froze and, after a moment, her hair dropped smoothly to rest against her spine and her hands relaxed out of fists. She turned towards him, trying to smile at him. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just still wound up from my scrap with that other demon last night."

Dipper wasn't convinced, but he also wasn't stupid enough to argue with someone who'd looked like a feral animal just moments ago. Instead he slipped out of bed and headed for the bathroom, leaving Andrietta and the book safely shut away in his and Mabel's room. Once he had shut and locked the bathroom door, Dipper splashed some water on his face, trying to calm his nerves. Andrietta's obvious anxiety was catching, and Dipper found himself flinching when he heard footsteps thumping towards the bathroom door. His muscles tensed, ready to fight or flee, when someone rapped lightly on the door, tapping out some kind of cheerful sounding song. He relaxed, realizing who was on the other side just as Mabel called, "Hurry up, silly head! We can't go on any adventures if you stay locked in the bathroom all day." Then the sound of her footsteps skipped off, leaving Dipper to laugh about how silly he was being. There were no monsters coming after him and Andrietta was all wound up about nothing.

He had to hold on to that idea until after breakfast, Mabel's sunny demeanor making it easy to smile and laugh. The girl was absolutely over the moon with relief now that the whole mess with Gideon had been solved. She chattered and giggled through breakfast, waving about her cereal spoon and splattering milk across the table. The two chatted cheerfully until Grunkle Stan stumbled out, looking far from awake. "Morning kids," he mumbled, opening cabinets at random as he searched for a clean coffee cup.

"Good morning, Grunkle Stan," Mabel called, waving cheerfully and splattering more milk across the table. "What are you up to on this fine morning?" The almost manic happiness in her eyes was a sure sign that there was about to be some kind of crazy, glittery trouble, but Grunkle Stan wasn't paying any attention as he pulled out what appeared to be the last clean coffee cup and filled it.

"Eh, I've got to work on some new attraction. Gotta keep drawing in those suckers."

"Ooh, ooh! Can I help?" Mabel was practically bouncing her seat with anticipation as Grunkle Stan considered her question.

"Yeah, alright," he said at last and Mabel let out an enthusiastic cheer.

" _Yes!_ " she shrieked excitedly, dropping her spoon into her bowl so that milk sloshed over the edge, forming a small pool on the table. "I'll go get my glitter and bedazzling supplies." She scrambled off the chair and then darted off towards the attic bedroom that she and Dipper shared.

A look of startled horror crossed Stan's face as he watched her practically fly out of sight and Dipper snickered into his cereal bowl, struggling to school his face into a look of innocence when his grunkle looked at him for help. "What have I done?"

"Unleashed the power of Mabel?" Dipper suggested cheerfully, finishing his cereal and escaping to the bathroom to brush his teeth before Mabel showed up with her craft supplies. He'd seen that particular sugar fueled tornado and he didn't envy Grunkle Stan the job of dealing with her.

Dipper was rinsing and spitting when the anxiety from earlier in the morning came rushing back. He rushed to finish up, hurrying back towards the attic. He glanced around every corner as he went, searching for any sign of a threat, but unless he was being stalked by the Hide Behind or the Invisible Wizard, then there was no one around. He scrambled up the stairs and flung open the attic door, a little trail of glitter and sequins on the floor a sure sign that Mable had passed through here recently. Stan's next creation was going to be especially interesting this time, and spectacularly sparkly.

Andrietta was perched on Dipper's bed, knees curled up to her chest. She looked surprisingly vulnerable, even with her clawed fingernails, but the eyes that turned to look at the boy were irritated. "Your obnoxious little ball of sunshine sister just whirled through here like a hurricane, trailing sparkles and good vibes in her wake," she said, shuddering a little. "It was horrible." Dipper managed a weak smile at her obvious disgust and she uncurled, sliding off the bed to resume pacing, pausing every once in a while to stare out the window.

"What are you looking for?" Dipper asked after about the third round of this, sliding off the bed where he'd been attempting to read through the journal for the twelfth time since he'd found it.

"Trouble," came the sour response as she leaned against the window frame.

"From Gideon?" Dipper asked skeptically. "We destroyed his amulet, so he doesn't exactly have a demon at his beck and call anymore."

"Maybe not, but if he summoned one, he can always summon more, and someone like Gideon isn't going to give up easily." She let out a hissing sigh and turned to face him. "Can we get out of here? All these triangles are making me nervous."

"What's wrong with triangles?" Dipper questioned and immediately regretted it. Andrietta actually growled at him, lips curling back to bare sharp teeth at him. He scrambled back, startled, and banged his head hard against the wall. " _Ow!"_ he whined automatically, reaching a hand back to rub against the sore spot on his head as Andrietta calmed herself. "Thanks a lot," he complained at her and she heaved out an exasperated sigh.

"I just don't want to talk about it," she grated out. "Okay?"

"Okay," Dipper agreed. "But if we're getting out of here, then we're going on an adventure." He grabbed the journal, tucking it under one arm, and dug his sneakers out from under the bed.

"As long as it gets us away from all these triangles, I'm in," Andrietta said, being surprisingly agreeable, and Dipper turned to grin at her, excitement replacing any lingering dread.

"Awesome! Let's go."


End file.
